When you want a tracking link to send visitors to a specific page on the advertiser's site instead of the default landing page, the URL you build still has to satisfy a small set of rules, otherwise the click won't be attributed correctly. This article describes those rules and how to apply them for both Direct tracking and Redirect tracking links.
Tip: Whenever the offer has deep linking enabled, the Tracking links builder shows a Deep link URL field that applies these rules for you and validates the input live. The manual approach below is for cases where you copy-paste a link by hand. See Deep Links for how to enable the feature and use the in-product field.
The rules a deep link URL must follow
Trackdesk compares your customized URL against the offer's landing page URL. All four of the following must hold; the rules apply identically to Direct tracking and Redirect tracking.
1. Same scheme
The deep link must use the same protocol as the landing page. If the landing page is https://…, the deep link must also be https://…. You cannot switch between http and https.
2. Same hostname
The host must match character-for-character, with no subdomain swap and no different domain. If the landing page is shop.example.com, the deep link must also be on shop.example.com.
3. Path must be a prefix
The deep link's path has to start with the landing page's path. You can append more segments, but you cannot change what is already there. Comparison is case-sensitive.
Landing page
/store→ valid deep link/store/products/blue-shoesLanding page
/store→ invalid deep link/shop/products
4. Query parameters
Every query parameter present on the original tracking link (including linkId, sourceId, tenantId, and anything else already there) must appear in the deep link with the same name, the same casing, and the same value. Order does not matter. You may add extra parameters on the deep link (UTMs, filters, etc.); they are passed through to the destination page.
Direct tracking: modifying the generated URL
For Direct tracking offers, the tracking link points straight at the advertiser's domain, so you customize it by editing the URL itself.
Original tracking link:
https://yourdomain.com/?linkId=lp_123456&sourceId=a1a&tenantId=YOUR_TENANT_ID
Customized deep link:
https://yourdomain.com/products/blue-shoes?linkId=lp_123456&sourceId=a1a&tenantId=YOUR_TENANT_ID&utm_campaign=summer
Please note: Click tracking must also be installed on the specific destination page. The four rules above keep the click attributable, but the destination page still needs the script in order to fire the click event.
Redirect tracking: appending &deepLink=…
A Redirect tracking link looks like https://redirect.yourdomain.com/{tenantId}/{offerId}/{sourceId} (or /gd/{tenantId}/{offerId}/{sourceId} for the Google-certified variant). You do not edit the path of a redirect URL, because the path is what identifies the offer and source. Instead, append a deepLink query parameter whose value is the URL-encoded destination.
Redirect tracking link:
https://redirect.example.com/YOUR_TENANT_ID/of_123/a1a
With a deep link:
https://redirect.example.com/YOUR_TENANT_ID/of_123/a1a?deepLink=https%3A%2F%2Fshop.example.com%2Fproducts%2Fblue-shoes
The decoded deepLink value is validated against the offer's landing page URL using the same four rules above. Two extra requirements apply:
The offer must have Specific Landing Page Targeting and deep linking enabled. See Deep Links for how to turn these on.
If the
deepLinkvalue fails validation, it is ignored and the click falls back to the offer's configured landing page URL. No error is shown to the visitor.
Troubleshooting
If a customized link does not attribute correctly, check that:
The scheme (
httpvshttps) matches the landing page.The hostname is identical to the landing page's, with no different subdomain and no different domain.
The path starts with the landing page's path; nothing in the original path was renamed or removed.
All original query parameters are present with the same names, casing, and values.
For Direct tracking: the destination page has the click tracking script installed.
For Redirect tracking: Specific Landing Page Targeting and deep linking are enabled on the offer.
See also
Deep Links: feature overview, how to enable deep linking globally and per offer, the in-product Deep link URL field, and the Specific Landing Page Targeting prerequisite for Redirect tracking.